The Kid-Friendly Christmas Tree

Christmas decorating is a great way to bring the Christmas spirit into your house. And Christmas decorations wouldn’t be complete without a decorated Christmas tree. Make sure that your Christmas tree remains safe and beautiful by decorating it in a kid friendly manner.

Instructions

Decorating your Christmas tree in a kid friendly manner is not difficult when you know what sorts of dangers to look out for and avoid. Kid friendly trees can turn out to be just as beautiful as any other tree when you use your creativity and take the time to do the job right.

1.Shatter-proof bulbs : Shatter-proof bulbs are very easy to come by. Most super stores and marts sell them along with all of their other ornaments. Shatter-proof bulbs also come in a wide variety of colors shapes and sizes. You can find a selection of store bought ornaments that look as good as the glass ones but do not have the dangers of breaking and cutting little hands or being choking hazards for your little ones. These shatter-proof bulbs will usually bounce on impact and if broken, will not shatter into a million different pieces.

2.Remove choking hazards : Miniature things are always cute to hang on a tree but they can pose a choking hazard for your kids. Make sure that anything smaller than a child’s fist that could be choked on is moved out of their reach. This includes parts of ornaments that could be broken off. If there is a decoration on your tree that you wouldn’t feel comfortable having your child play with, you may reconsider using it as a decoration.

3.Hang with ribbon (not wire hooks) : If you stop to think about it, the metal hooks that many people use to hang their ornaments on their Christmas tree are actually very dangerous. Metal hooks can cause cuts, damage the eyes, and if swallowed can cause serious internal damage. Avoid this risk entirely by using ribbon to hand your ornaments instead of metal hooks. Ribbon is not only a more kid-friendly option, but it adds a nice decorative touch to your ornaments.

4.Edible decorations : In young children there is a strong urge to put anything and everything into their mouth as is possible. Whether they are teething or simply wanting to experiment the world around them, your children may want to put almost anything into their mouth. This is why edible decorations are such a kid friendly idea. You can make rice treat snow balls, ginger bread men, cheerios or fruit loop cereal garland, etc. Edible decorations are not only safer for your children, but they are fun for the whole family to make as well.

5.Short strands : Most of us do not think twice about the safety of winding lights or garland around the tree. However, one strong pull on the end of one of these strands could make the whole tree fall. If your child is in the path of a falling tree they can really be injured. This is why it is better not to have strands that wrap around the whole tree. Instead cut garland into shorter lengths. You can situate these string decorations so that to the naked eye no one will be able to tell that the strands are not in fact connected.

Other tips

There are all kinds of varying degrees of safety that you can choose to conform to. Obviously young toddlers who do not understand very many dangers are children that you will need to be especially aware of as you decorate your kid friendly tree. Older children who understand that decorations are not to be eaten can have more freedom to create ornaments and other decorations out of a wider variety of materials.